Michelle, It sounds like a very hard decision to make. I have no idea between the two which sounds better. When I have a choice to make and have no idea which way to lean, I pray. Praying never fails me. I hope it will help you too. Continued prayers going out for little Lucy and for you as well. You are such a wonderful kitty 'mom'.
:) Wendy --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > So through yesterday Lucy continued to purr and eat > and occasionally slowly > walk to the litterbox or another room. She is very > fatigued, probably from her > anemia. Hideyo had said that giving the feline > interferon every day seemed > to help Dharma feel better, so I gave Lucy the > feline interferon for the > second day in a row yesterday afternoon. In the > evening, she was much more out of > it. Still no fevers though. So at about 10 pm I > gave her a dexamethasone > shot that I got from the vet. I was planning, if I > thought she definintely has > fip (which is seeming more and more likely) to put > her on steroid shots to > make her more comfortable. Well, this is the second > time she got a dex shot, the > other time being Tuesday after getting some fluids > drained. Last night, like > Tuesday, she got a fever about an hour after > getting the dex shot, and all > the congestion came back to her nose. Although it > does not really make sense > according to the vet, I am positive now that the > return of fevers and > congestion comes from the dex shots. But, like > last time, when I got up in the > early morning she was at the top of the 6 foot tall > cat tree, and purring. She > has been there all morning. She has meowed a few > times, which she normally > did a lot while healthy, and purrs, and has eaten a > little, but generally looks > the same as she did before getting the additional > feline interferon and > dexamethasone, only at the top of the cat tree > rather than on a cat bed on the > floor. Clearly she got some burst of energy, but I > think it is rather > temporary. > > So I am trying to decide, now, whether to switch her > from oral prednisolone > to dexamathasone shots. I did read in the archives > of one of the FIP lists > that a cat with presumptive dry FIP (all the signs > and lab work, but no tissue > biopsy) was put on strong dexamethasone instead of > pred and after a couple of > months went into remission and is still in > remission 2 years later. And > dex gives Lucy at least a small period of energy, > clearly, a few hours after > getting the shot. And another potential upside is > that if it reduces her > fip-induced inflammation more than the pred, it > could give the epogen more of a > chance to work, as epogen apparently does not work > well if there is a lot of > inflammation because inflammation causes > sequestering of iron, even when iron is > added (I am giving pet tinic and folic acid). And > anemia may be what is > likely to kill her first. Those are the potential > upsides of giving > dexamethasone instead of pred. > > Here are the downsides: She seems to get temporary > fevers from the dex, and > she seems to feel pretty miserable while she has the > fevers (and I need to > give her some fluids, which may increase her belly > effusion, and put ice on > her, which she doe snot like). So far she had fever > last night for a couple of > hours. Last time the fever came back the following > afternoon, so I will need > to see if that happens today. Also, she looks a > little bit wired-- her > expression. Then, she seems to get some of her URI > symptoms back from the dex, > like some congestion in her nose. Finally, she is > still on clindamycin in case > this is toxo. It is looking less and less like toxo, > but I can not find a > way of telling for sure and sometimes the > antibiotics do not make a big > difference for a few weeks. Even high doses of pred > like she was on is bad for > treating toxo, but dex is the worst-- when lab > researchers induce toxo in animals > to study it (horrible, I know), they bring out the > clinical symptoms (most > animals do not actually get sick just from being > infected with toxo) by giving > them dexamethasone. So giving dex is a definite > giving up on the abx doing > anything. Also, Lucy is on feline interferon, and > it is unclear what being > on dexamethasone would do to the chances of the > feline interferon helping her > in any way, whether prolonging life or just making > her feel better. Feline > interferon is normally given with some prednisone, > but lower dosage of pred > than Lucy has been getting, much less dexamethasone. > They do not know why the > feline interferon helps sometimes with fip. In one > theory it is anti-viral, > which means that increasing steroids would decrease > its ability to work. In the > other theory it modulates the immune system and > therefore controls > inflammation when the immune system is out of > control like with fip, in which case > steroids would work in conjunction with it rather > than against it. But all of > the success stories (of which there are only a few) > of feline interferon > curing fip or giving long remissions have been with > using it in conjunction with > less pred than Lucy was on. None with dex, though I > do not think it has been > tried with dex. > > So what would you do? Switch to dex or keep her on > the pred? I have never > had a doubt before about this when I thought my cats > were in their last stages > that it was the right thing to give heavy doses of > steroid shots. It has > always clearly made them feel so much better, even, > or perhaps especially, with > my cat Buddy who probably had dry FIP. But it is > less clear for me with > Lucy, both because it is unclear if on the whole it > makes her feel better, and > because it may work against some of the other meds > she is on (feline interferon > and abx). Then again, it might help the epogen to > work. Without the dex, on > 12.5 mg/day of prednisolone, Lucy was still eating > and still very purry and > seemed comfortable, just incredibly fatigued. Part > of me feels like it is > better to try to help her stay like that, if > possible, than give her something > that brings on fever and congestion, even with a > small temporary surge of > energy. But part of me feels like, wow, she climbed > to the top of a 6 foot tall > cat tree-- how can she not feel better? > > Please let me know what you think I should do. > > Thanks, > Michelle > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! 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